kim kardashian and kanye west, kimye, got pulled off a plane after an airline employee let them skip security. the flight was delayed nearly an hour while officials cleared them to board with a private screening.

t.s.a. says somebody broke the rules taking them through a private area to bypass a security checkpoint. american airlines tells tmz it was a laps in judgment by one of its employees. you think? >> we're keeping an eye down in mobile, alabama. the stricken carnival cruise line, limping back into port after 4.5 days without any power, horrendous conditions onboard. a towline bringing it to port broke. it's been reattached so it's slowly making its way. we'll have continuing coverage tonight on the "fox report." shep will be here. i'm gregg jarrett. neil cavuto is next. say hello to the world's biggest airline and maybe your biggest travel nightmare. welcome, everybody, glad to have you, i'm neil cavuto and this is your world and this is the state

of your travel world. with the eye-popping pairing of american airlines and u.s. airways, we have four super carriers ruling the skies. for nine out of ten u.s. flyers, ruling their travel plans as well. that's how many flights american, united, delta and southwest will account for. 90% of all flights in the country. to the guys to put this $11 billion deal together, in a moment, first. to casey stegall at dallas-fort worth on the big, the bad and possibly the ugly. >> reporter: yeah, that's what we're hearing. the airport is abus here with this news. american clearly owns the market here. in fact this is the carrier's largest and most busiest hub operating the vast majority of in and outbound flights. amr headquarters just down the road, the largest employer in

north texas. the merger concern was that the corporate offices would be moved somewhere else and not kept here. we now know the answer is no to that. they are going to remain here in texas. but what really remains unclear today, what will this mean when you book your next trip? that is what virtually ever passenger told us that they fear with this megamerger. >> the one thing is that prices in certain cities could go up. >> when two large airlines combine, usually your ticket price goes up. i think in the future that's what we'll see. i'm just glad we still get our miles. i don't want to lose those. >> i'm sure prices will go up since there's let competition. >> you heard the woman talking about frequent flyer miles. it gives people more options to

fly. now the two programs remain separate. then advantage and dividend miles will combine once the deal is official. that's the thing people need to understand. that could take time before it's finished and you start seeing changes. the merger itself not finalized until the third quarter, which is late summer, early fall. so to be continued for people that are taking to the skies. >> thank you, casey. now comes the fun part. fewer carriers, fewer planes, just as many, if not more passengers. it's not a pretty picture. i haven't gotten into the stupid seats. let's say you could be royally -- it's something i got into with the u.s. airways c.e.o. dug doug parker and/. >> before the deal you had two megacarriers in delta and united.

now you'll have a third carrier, that is fully competitive with those two on a global basis. in fact in the global context, you have three global alliances, star, sky team and one world. this deal bringing u.s. air into the fold of american makes a stronger, more robust competitor. >> i guess as a regular flying looking at the industry, i know you will be the largest when all is said and done. but there are still only so many planes out there. demand has picked up, consumers are used to more crowded planes. good for you in the long run. but there is this concern about fees going up for everything from where you sit to what you get on plane. and it's turned out to be a ask you standings moneymaker for all airlines. billions have come off added fees. are we going to see more?

>> well, there's clearly more of a trend of having customers pay for things they value most and not pay for things they would rather not purchase. that's been constructive for the industry. i think it has been one part, along with consolidation and other things that, have led to a profitable, healthy airline industry. i think a healthy airline industry is good for the country. it allows companies to reinvest and hire and grow. that's important for the country i think. >> mr. parker, look at this -- what's going on as you get this up and running. you could have other things to do with your cash. you could have looked at other opportunities. this comes at a time a lot of companies are sitting on a lot of cash, maybe not to the degree of apple but so many are looking at raising dividends, buying

back stock. but not going out and adding on their own or expanding their own enterprises. maybe buying out a competitor. is any of this indicative or a statement on your part about the economy or about the environment? how would you describe it? >> it's less about the environment and more about the value created by combining airlines. there was no better opportunity in our view for our shareholders than for us to enter into this merger and investing in stand alone growth or returning to shareholders. two networks like that, creating one network that provides so much more to so many others. it will create a billion dollars a year in synergy and that goes to shareholders and we could not have created that independently. >> neil, from our perspective, at american we've completed what is the most successful restructure you are going iningn

the airline industry and we negotiated a deal with doug that's sensible and owners of american will own 72% of the newly merged enterprise. >> finally your view of the economy right now and the notion the president expressed, that things are getting better, markets are storming back. and that in this environment, there is more room for the government to spend, more room for companies to look forward to what he has to offer. do you share that? >> i leave the political views and government spending but as it relates to the economy coming back, it doesn't feel like storming back but it feels like gradual, continued, hopefully sustained growth. it's not dramatic but it's growth and we've seen in our industry more people returning to the skies. that's good for the airline business. >> a lot of people see taxes go

up. that goes into discretionary income or high income groups. will the tax hikes you've seen impact travelers, do you suspect? >> well, in general higher taxes are not good for the economy and not good for discretionary spending but as doug said, in the near term and what we can see, airline demand looks robust and because the supply, the capacity environment in the industry, has been pretty tame, it makes for a pretty healthy environment, revenue environment in the airline business. >> the head of the senate commerce committee, jay rockefeller is raising alarms. are the c.e.o.s worried this is far from a done deal. i asked him about that and that's coming up tonight on "fox business" network at 8:00 p.m. they're ready to fight for this.

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cupid's arrows may be flying but it's daggers in washington. democrats and republicans ripping each over other $85 billion in spending cuts set to kick in march 1st. $1.3 trillion in sequestration cuts. the democrats argue they'll hurt children.

republicans argue it will hut the military. crystal say it's time to embrace the cuts because at least they're cuts. excellent point. >> better than no cuts, right? >> i think all this slaps you were running reminded me of the sequester. the problem with the sequester, $85 billion is not a big enough slap in the face for the american people and members of congress. however, i think it is a wakeup call and what it will do, and i hope republicans have the fort attitude to let it take place. it was president obama's bright idea in 2011 when he failed to get any negotiation with republicans over the debt ceiling. he said guys, i have an idea, it's called sequester. $1.2 trillion over 10 years. you know what republicans said in we don't like that you want half the cuts to come from defense. no, we're going to do it. now the president doesn't want it because he's not interested in cutting. >> they both signed on to the

agreement. i called it a backup backbone. but i agree with you on this, the cuts are not cuts, they're shaving off the growth of varies programs in the future so nothing is outright cut. in a $3.5 trillion budget, $82 billion is a joke. having said that, it's better than nothing. it's better than just letting this pass by. >> right. you know why it's better? the american people have said that the debt in our debt deficit is their biggest worry. pew research did a study and guess where the deficit and debt was with american people. number one. american people know what's good for the country but the president doesn't seem to. i think the sequester is a great start but i want your -- i want everybody to understand one thing. wrap your head around this. congress just voted to give all the states involved in hurricane

sandy $60 billion. to what's $85 billion? it's not a lot of money. it's 10% toward the amount of money the president is spending each year. which is over a trillion dollars. we got to start making -- >> the bottom line is republicans will be upset by the trimming, very small trimming, and democrats, the entitlements. >> it's small in the scheme of things but it is a start. >> it's a start but we need a bigger slap in the face for our miss america country. that's what i'm saying. i think it will provoke discussion around the kitchen table. i think americans want us to deal with this. >> we shall see. happy valentine's day. >> you too. politicians keep fighting, the outgoing head of social security warns the program is framed for neglect. he says the program is unsustainable and both parties

need to get a grip. jim clyburn, always great having you. >> thank you for having me. >> the saying that all this hits the fan in 2033. 20 years fro from now when we run out of options and maybe run out of social security. we're not there but he says by ignoring little things we can do now, we all but guarantee problems later. why can't we do little things now? >> i don't know why we can't. i am very much for doing something now. you may know that i have been advocating that we lift the caps that we have. >> salary caps. >> social security is capped out around $113,000. that means if you make $113,000 a year, you pay social security income on 100% of your income, or taxed on 100%. if you make $225,000 a year, you

only pay another 50% of your income. i've been an advocate for taking a look at getting rid of the caps on income over $250,000. >> you see, that's not -- i don't know where you're coming from. but i guess it's a way to tax more to get more money. i could see where you mean -- >> no, it's a way -- >> why not look either a the raising the retirement age, grandfathered in over decades but stuff like that that will be equal to taxing the -- >> i know what you mean but let's think about what you just said. you're going to say for you and i, he worked in air conditioned environments. we're going to have the same retirement -- >> no, no, i could delineate between a coal miner and manufacturer. what i want to do is look at ways that if americans are living longer and if you want to make separate allowances for those who work in the onerous

conditions and hard, labor intensive jobs. by the way, my is intensive. but -- if you were to just do something like that, and scale it in, grandfather it in over decades. then we would recognize that americans are living longer and we could find a better way to afford the benefits we're providing now that aren't sustainable. >> if you -- as you recall, the occupation of titles, a big book i'm familiar with, let's take a look at the dictionary of occupational titles and set out our retirement eligibility based upon the kinds of jobs we hold. >> so fine, we can argue over who gets what. but you're taupe raising the retirement -- taupe raising -- you're open to raising the retirement age.

>> i'm open to ways to be fair. >> i just want to be clear on the basic math. what the social security administrator is saying, we're now having fewer people paying into a system, more people will be taking out. you used to be 30-1, workers paying in. we're close now to it being 2-1. the next 20 years, almost 1-1. that cannot be sustained, right? >> remember, when we were paying 17, 20-1, the threshold was much lower. i'm talking about the cap. >> you're not resting on the cap, right? just raise the cap, get more money from taxpayers and call it a day? >> i'm for coming up with a system that would guarantee 75 year sovereignty. i have the program. it's a proposal that we've been talking about a long time. i wish that i could get you to

advocate for it. >> okay. i look forward to it. include me with the coal miners and we'll be off to the races. thank you very much. we want to bring you up to date on this -- this is under way for chuck hagel and whether he's the next defense secretary. if the vote exceeds 60 votes that means a possible vote would come as soon as tomorrow and only require a 51 vote majority. if it does not get the 60 votes, this thing it liking dicey. a vote for hagel is delayed for at least another week. they're in recession next week and this whole thing could fall apart. this is the first time this has happened with a pentagon appointee in this process. senator john mccain is coming up after the vote on the implications. hours away from another deadline for the healthcare law.

why scott brown doesn't like what he sees. see him next. hi. hi.

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you are looking live on the senate floor where they're conducting what they call a culture vote to determine whether there will be a future for a possible defense secretary, hagel, there's in doubt. you need 60 votes to make it happen. you get 60 votes in this vote. they can proceed to a simple up and down majority vote on former senator hagel to be the next secretary of defense.

a number of republican senators have been saying they're confident that their former colleague will become the next defense secretary. it's a byzantine process. i don't understand how it works but there's procedure for everything. who knows better than former republican senator scott brown. good to have you. >> good to been. >> do you think chuck hagel is going to make it to the defense department? >> not today. i think lindsay graham and others have real concerns and should have their questions answered. they'll be answered today and could have been prior to today. this is to shut up debate and move the issue forward. i agree with lindsay, providing those questions are answered, he'll get a full and fair vote probably after they come back from recess. >> there are two sets of questions, one is on what the

administration did about bin gaza and others concern financial issues that came up in senator hagel's confirmation hearing. how much of a delay or distraction or risk will be this be for hagel? >> the bottom line is the senators have the right to inquire and do due diligence and be satisfied before they vote. when secretary pan leon panetta, i voted for him. there's a process. when it's fully adhered to, he'll move forward. >> neil: do you think something went wrong or do you think the administration, rather than appoint a maverick like chuck hagel, it would be an easy slam dunk through the senate. yet the confirmation hearing got to be contentious. what happened? >> bottom line is people are concerned about sequestration. you have a session coming up on it. you just spoke about it. i was working in the pentagon

and that's all they're talking about. a lot of concerns the senators have about what's going to happen to the military, their ability to protect the country, his statements on israel and other things, they have a right to inquire and they should have the questions answered. they don't need to ram him through. they should are the ability to do a thorough -- >> a has happened at this place you used to work. it seems broken. they can't do anything in the time allotted so we bring things up to a sequestration. the thursday one in as many months. then we have this around a confirmation around a potential defense -- first time it's ever happened in your country's history. maybe for valid reasons but it looks like a circus. >> the partnership is incredible. that's one of the reasons i thought i could do better outside the senate chamber. true moderates, people in the

middle forming the bridges and trying to push our issues forward are not there anymore. you have harry reid running the place. he can do what he wants, whenever he wants. his lieutenants, they run the place as well and they're extremely partisan. but bottom line is people need to understand they can pretty much do anything they want because they're in the majority party. the only tools republicans have are to slow things down, law for full -- allow for full and fair debate and an open vote. they file bills, move for closure. and then try to ram it through. that's now how we should legislate. especially now. >> neil: nothing seems to change. >> you're right. >> neil: he's going to keep ramming through executive orders and spending. republicans argue they're not going to allow it. >> listen, you're right. he says he wants to reach across the aisle.

you have senators like susan colins and others who are hopeful we'll get things done and work in a bipartisan manner then if it does it go the administration's way, he says we'll do it through check executive order. we need to work together as americans and find consensus and work on things we agree on. american people are demanding we do this. we need to get or debt, deficit, taxes, spending, jobs all in order because we're in trouble. >> neil: scott brown, thank you very much. very good seeing you. >> chuck hagel could be in trouble because we don't know the outcome of this vote on the floor of the senate. they need 60 votes to say yes, let's vote up or down, maybe tomorrow. they're no there. if they don't get there, he's very much in doubt as the next defense secretary of the united states. food for thought, pigging

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80s z a super store whose brands include ketchup, or ride da. weight watchers smart meals. the man who made it says the whet the sage of oracle as appear tight. bill johns, congratulations. >> thank you very much. good to be back. >> you always have the great staple of products and it's no mystery buffett loves food, iconic names and yours was always out there but something got you interested in this. what? >> well they first approached me about six or eight weeks ago and they laid out the beginning of a proposal which then formally sent to us a week or so later. and i think the thing that got my attention was one, i wanted a commitment to keep the business in pittsburgh, which they gave me. i wanted a commitment to be as generous as i could with our

employees, and i wanted a commitment we would continue to drive growth on a global basis. they gave us a price i took to the board and the board was compelled to go forward with. i think it's a great deal for our shareholders, a wonderful deal for our employees and the city of pittsburgh. it's a terrific deal with terrific people and the berkshire hathaway people led by warren buffett and the 3g people. >> obviously it's an eye-poppingly attractive order ever offer to the board. a 20% premium in the last day alone. having said that, what is going on? did the environment economically compel this move? i asked the same to airline giants whether that propelled doing a deal sooner rather than later because in this environment, you don't know your alternatives or you feel you should entertain these things more than normal.

>> in our case it's different. we're being acquired from a position of great strength a consecutive run of high, excellent performance and traded at a high stock price. in our case it was the opportunity when 3g approached mr. buffett but getting together and acquiring what is my view, one of the two or three great brands in the world, certainly one of the leading brands in the united states and uk. the opportunity just matched the time and matched the lending conditions available and engine -- it was a good time to get forward. >> one could step back from this and say big deals are back, whether dell trying to take itself private for a similar sum in remember verse and -- reverse and other airlines deals, that maybe something's in the water and this is a sign of a new era. >> i don't know that that's true.

ening our case, it's the highest price ever paid for a food business in the global food industry. it's at an all-time high, $28 billion is a terrific deal. in our case it's a really enhancing deal four shareholders. other deals that have been done or businesses that are troubled or had more difficult conditions. i just think mr. buffett and the 3g capital people saw a opportunity to buy a wonderful brand and take it to new levels. >> you're the expert, i play one on tv and read a prompter. i wonder if part of this might be you never go wrong betting on food. good times and bad, they have to eat. if you're worried the economy might slow and we globally bump, people will still have to eat and you've got to find a safe cushion for your money and heinz is that and warren buffett is

astute. >> i certainly think he's astute. it's the iconic stature of our brand and mr. buffett and 3g capital like great brands. it continues to grow and in equity and we continue to penetrate new markets. the view is we're still penetrating less than 2 or 3 billion people to. so you can't go wrong with great brands. it's been proven time and time again. mr. buffett and 3g capital are astute enough to recognize that and saw opportunity. >> i want to see family discontent and venture to politics. warren buffett was a fan of raising taxes on the upper income. the proof is in the pudding. what do you think of that? >> well, i don't know. it's hard to argue with the or

or -- >> or cal of omaha. we'll choose to say i had lunch with mr. buffett on monday, i couldn't have been more thoroughly entertained and impressed with his knowledge of a variety of subjects including marshal goldburg who used to play for the university of pittsburgh football team. mr. buffett was a ball boy for the washington redskins. our lunch was those kinds of interesting things. while he don't necessarily agree on the tax comment, i pay more than 30%, i pay more than deny secretary. at the end of the day, i don't know the relevance of that but you can't argue with success of the markets recently. >> all right, my biggest thing with you is you've been in the food business all these years and ear not fat. that troubles me deeply. continued success and thank you very much for joining us.

>> thank you, us a always, for having me. continued good luck with your show. >> i appreciate that, bill johnson, the heinz c.e.o. this closure vote under way on chuck hagel's nomination as secretary. we have gotten the indications that susan collins joining two g.o.p. senators voting yes. in other words, to move on and let there be an up or down vote. senator john mccain coming up after the vote. look what mommy is having. mommy's having a french fry. yes she is, yes she is. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. 100% vegetable juice, with three of your daily vegetable servings in every little bottle. but, dad, you've got... [ voice of dennis ] allstate. with accident forgiveness, they guarantee your rates won't go up just because of an accident. smart kid. [ voice of dennis ] indeed.

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welcome back. to the floor of the united states senate where we have no indication whether chuck hagel will be voted on tomorrow. you need of 0 votes to effectively proceed to a simple vote tomorrow presumably to see if he comes the next secretary of defense of the united states.

our senior capital producer is on the phone. what's it looking like? >> it's clear skies right now. the one -- close right now. you one of to watch is lamar alexander from tennessee. when he was nominated to be education secretary under were the reagan, his nomination sat for three months. they're one vote short. if all the democrats stay together, senators collins of maine, mccaw ski of alaska, mike johanns of nebraska voted. collins will vote no on the nomination but vote to proceed. if they get 60 they could vote later tonight. the senate by unanimous consent, you can get the sun to rise in the west. they could get back the time. the rule is in the senate that there are 30 hours of debate required after or available i should say.

30 hours of debate available after you invoke or cut off debate. there are some pretty -- some senators who are dug in and the question is would they want to do that if they're able to maybe have a few hours to talk about this. maybe vote later tonight. otherwise we could look at a final confirmation vote late tomorrow night. >> leon panetta has his bags packed to go back to california and won't until this is resolved. this is kind of weird, isn't it? have we ever had this for the defense secretary pick? >> this is what harry reid said. we're without a defense secretary. there are a no, ma'am of departments that don't have people confirmed or nominated. department of labor for instance. but at this point, it's rare. as senator reid said we're fighting wars and dealing with issues in syria and north korea and we don't have a secretary of

defense. at least not right now. >> thank you, my friend. you can always clarify a lab rinth of procedures. with us, senator john mccain. how do you think this wraps up? >> well, i think it wraps up with us coming back from recess. we're in recess next week. we never miss a recess. and we'll be back following tuesday and i believe we'll vote for hagel and there will be sufficient votes to overcome any requirements there may be. and i think we'll vote his nomination on a party line basis, just about, what rare exception. look, we didn't get the answers to many questions, we just got the answers to major questions that senator graham, senator aye i don't ayotte and i had this morning.

even though harry reid has a good memory, he has a memory loss here. in 1989 they filibuster or prevented senator tower's nomination. we didn't have a secretary of defense for three months. it didn't seem to bother harry reid or carl levin at the time. >> i forgot that. i am curious why it got to this point. i know you were looking for answers on benghazi, then it expanded into hagel's finances and trying to get to the bottom of it so it got complicated. but it always went back to hearings in which even hagel supporters say he botched it and worried some of those supporters. what do you think he should do now, should he step aside or how do you think it's going to end up? >> i frankly, because i'm opposed to him, i would love to

see him step aside. they'll probably get the votes when we return from recess, unless another something pops up and that's doubtful that it will. but to be honest with you, neil, it goes back to there's a lot of ill will towards senator hagel because when he was a republican, he attacked president bush mercilessly and say he was the worst president since herbert hoover and said the surge was the worst blunder since the vietnam war, which was nonsense. he was antihis own party and people. people don't forget that. you can disagree but if you're disagreeable, people don't forget that. finally, chuck hagel does not have the qualification in the view of many of us to everybody is. no managerial experience, his

answers on iran were troubling.y what they're going to do by what they've done in the past and that record is nod good. at the same time the president won the election and he can select his nominees, but we have advice and consent. >> if you could stick around here if possible, we would appreciate it. more with nor mccain on this and the future -- the potential next secretary of defense. a better than 50/50 thing a little more than days ago, now in maybe serious doubt today. much more after this. today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine.

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welcome back everyone.

continuing with senator john mccain over the future of former senator chuck hagel and whether he'll be defense secretary. they're going for a vote. they need 60 votes to proceed to an up or down vote that could come tomorrow but that's in some doubt. but senator, it goes back to a lot of you and your colleagues wanting to get information from the white house on benghazi and what it knew and when. they did provide you with something today. can you update us on that? >> yes. i think the scenario is very likely that when we come back a week from tuesday, he'll probably get -- we'll move forward to the up and down vote. that's likely unless something else pops up. we haven't been able to get information about what happened in benghazi. it's been a massive stone wall. we wanted to know whether the president talked to anyone in libya on the night of the

attack. we know he only spoke to the chairman of the joint chiefs and defense secretary at that prearranged meeting on another subject and never talked to them the rest of the night or talked to the secretary of state and didn't call the libyans while our rescue operation team was at the airport in tripoli for 3.5 hours. there are so many questions. >> what did they provide today? anything to ease your concern? >> he finally said no, he didn't talk to any libyan until 24 hours later. that's very interesting when he must have been or should have been told they got an american rescue team that is being held up at the airport in tripoli because the government was -- the libyan government was presenting obstacles for them being dispatchedded. the talking points thing hadn't

been had he solved. we want to know why the race statement was made. the president we know had a one-hour conversation with netanyahu that night of september 11, the chairman of the joint chiefs and secretary of defense defend defense knew it was a terrorist attack that night because of the way the mortars his the annex. yet he said they didn't know. the president in in debate with mitt romney said i said it was a terrorist attack. he didn't. he gave an interview with cbs the night of the 12th of september that he said he didn't know what caused it. there are so many questions out there and we made two movies about how they got bin laden yet we cannot find out the barest fundamentals of what happened in benghazi. >> we night never. switching gears. what about a sequestration cut

that could kick in. if you had a choice between those cuts coming on or entertaining tax hikes to offset them, how would you go? >> it would be a tough choice but i'm against sugar subsidies, against algae subsidies. i would do away with a bunch of those subsidies that i have always opposed, neil. it's not a new idea of mine in order to come up with ways to pay for it. but the sequestration, if you believe our secretary of defense, did devastate national security. north korea set off a nuclear weapon and we're having abraham lincoln not being able to be deployed. >> the defense cuts would bother you so you would entertain the revenue things. >> if you call revenue the loophole special interest closings but not for a tax

increase. we just went through that. >> some of your colleagues say hell no, in it means anything like that, we're not google to do going to do it. are they wrong? >> nothing is more important than national security and it would be extremely helpful, rather than the president beating up on congress, if he called the leaders over and try to figure it out. many loopholes could be closed. many savings can be made that would be direct savings. >> senator, thank you very much and for staying with us through the break. we appreciate it. we're getting news chuck hagel missed by one. this is now looking dicey.

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